Qatar Airways to cut surcharge on oil price drop

08 Jan 2015

(MENAFN) Qatar Airways announced that it will cut its fuel surcharge as a result of the plunge in crude oil prices, though the carrier said that it does not plan to make any reductions concerning the ticket fare, Arab News reported.

He carrier, which declined to comment on exactly how much the cut would be or when it would be implemented, said that the cut would not be directly related in terms of percentage to the decline in oil prices, which dropped almost 50 percent since the plunge in prices started in June.

“Please keep in mind that when the fuel price rose to USD100 a barrel and over, the airline was in the negative territory as far as its finance was concerned. So as now the price is going down, the airline will now again get into profitability. This does not mean that if the fuel price went down 50 percent, we have to start reducing the ticket by 50 percent, Qatar Airways Chief Executive said.

QA’s decision follows the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents around 250 airlines, saying in December that the falling fuel prices and stronger economic growth means global airlines will report their strongest profit margin in more than five years in 2015, as a result of the drop in their spending on fuel, which is expected to decline from USD204 billion in 2014 to an expected USD192 billion in 2015.